The 12 Principles of Presas Arnis - Always Seek Positional Advantage

Most of the 12 Principles of Presas Arnis are conceptual in nature, but the 10th Principle of Presas Arnis is a little different, as it addresses a key point in our martial strategy.

That 10th Principle is ALWAYS SEEK POSITIONAL ADVANTAGE.

This principle sounds simple but in practice... not so much. 

The difficulty of actually being in positional advantage exists because your opponent is moving and seeking positional advantage, too. This is a major reason why people really can’t learn martial arts by themselves - people rarely move the way you imagine they will in a conflict.

So why is understanding positional advantage important?

In a conflict, positioning is always changing. Ideally, we’d like to be in a spot where it’s easier for us to hurt the bad guy than it is for them to hurt us.

We talk about this idea all the time.

We have footwork drills and stances that help us out with this problem.  We talk about reach, and how to make yours more than theirs.  We adjust our positioning so that we make it harder for an opponent to reach vital spots.

We talk about the “math of positional advantage”, where we stop and consider, based on our stance and position in relation to the opponent, how many of our four “weapons” (two arms, two feet) are available to deploy versus the opponent, and consider if we have more “weapons”, fewer “weapons” or we're equal.

Like this but done while someone is seeking to punch your lights out.

We understand we’re not the only martial art that thinks about this idea and consider it this way. But it’s such a fundamental idea, it has such importance, that we elevated it to our 12 Principles.

Always seeking positional advantage goes hand in hand with another Principle, OWN YOUR SPACE. It’s hard to be a “driver” if you’re out of position, after all.

We ask our students to consider the positional advantage of the opponent as much as their own.  How does the opponent have an advantage, if they do, and what could be the consequence for the student?  

What’s at risk if we do a technique that moves us within range of an advantage the opponent has?  Is the risk worth taking?  What’s our plan to cope with the risk?

When we train at Kindred Protective Arts, consideration of positional advantage is always on our minds.  That’s why it’s the 10th Principle of Presas Arnis.

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